Flaming Arrows
Gao Ming quietly followed behind Gao Cai. If she hadn't arrived in time just now, he might have been petrified already. Despite using her underestimation to gain an advantage earlier, catching her off guard, she was an esper, proficient in various psychic abilities. Any second-tier ability would be beyond his capabilities. The previous encounter was just a earth trapping technique, yet it had already rendered him helpless.
Entering the study room, the two sat facing each other. Gao Cai stared at Gao Ming for a while, making him feel uneasy and anxious. He couldn't fathom her intentions. Was she about to explode in anger, blaming him for being arrogant just because he had learned a fireball technique?
Gao Ming lowered his head, held his breath, preparing to face Gao Cai's wrath.
"Gao Ming, I didn't expect you to learn the fireball technique so quickly. It seems I underestimated you. Hmm, regarding the recent battle, do you have any reflections?" Surprisingly, Gao Cai's tone was calm, lacking any anger. In comparison to usual, it was even more composed.
Unable to discern Gao Cai's thoughts, Gao Ming could only nervously respond, "Teacher, I was too impulsive just now. Learning only one fireball technique, I had unrealistic thoughts about sparring with others. If it wasn't for—"
He was cut off by Gao Cai, "Don't go off topic. I'm asking for your thoughts on the battle just now."
Gao Ming's eyes shifted, suddenly understanding. It seemed she wasn't planning to reprimand him for his recklessness. He sighed in relief, straightening up, "In the recent battle, if it weren't for Gao Bao underestimating me and me seizing the opportunity, the outcome would have been unpredictable. Especially if he used higher-level psychic abilities, I would have had no chance."
Gao Cai nodded slightly, her tone turning more serious, "So, you must learn from this incident. Don't underestimate any opponents. Throughout history, many talented espers with great potential have fallen because of their arrogance. When facing opponents with superior abilities, lower-level espers still have a chance. It depends on how cleverly you use your psychic abilities to respond…"
Gao Cai didn't say much, leaving with just one sentence before departing, "In half a month, I'll come to evaluate your progress."
"Teacher, why is the time moved up again?" Gao Ming complained.
"Blame yourself for performing so well. I initially underestimated you and gave you a light workload. But it seems too easy. So, I had to make it a bit more challenging. Also, you must learn the Flame Arrow as well~"
Gao Cai's indifferent words echoed as her figure disappeared beyond the iron gate.
Gao Ming wiped off a bead of sweat. It seemed his attempt to feign incompetence had been seen through by this perceptive teacher. Nevertheless, she probably thought his psychic potential was slightly higher than the test indicated. With his comprehension and latent potential in psychic abilities, he had indeed increased his psychic strength significantly in just a few days.
Therefore, Gao Cai believed that learning the Flame Arrow should pose no problem for him.
Alone in the study room, Gao Ming stared at the monotonous metal walls for a moment. Then, shaking off miscellaneous thoughts, he began learning the third psychic ability—Fire Shield.
This ability utilized the solid characteristics of fire energy for both physical and energy defense. It was more complex than the Fireball technique. In terms of defensive capabilities, Fire Shield ranked lower among shield abilities in all elemental psychic abilities. The distinctive feature of fire energy lay more in its offensive rather than defensive aspects.
Gao Ming's psychic comprehension was truly remarkable. He completed the Fire Shield on his first attempt. A shield of fire appeared about a foot in front of him, capable of blocking physical and energy attacks. To enhance the defense of the Fire Shield, he could compress the fire energy, which added a greater level of difficulty.
Looking at the remaining scroll of Flame Arrow, Gao Ming murmured to himself, "It's strange. Learning these psychic abilities doesn't seem difficult at all. Why do others take one or two months to learn their first ability? Could it be that I'm truly a natural psychic comprehender?"
Feeling that time was running out, he decided to learn the Flame Arrow tomorrow.
Gao Ming entered a training room to practice the Fireball and Fire Shield. Rather than mindlessly releasing one ability after another, he started by casting a Fire Shield, allowing it to rotate around him. While controlling the shield, he simultaneously released Fireball techniques. His aim was to enhance his combat effectiveness through the coordination of offense and defense. This was an essential process for every esper, and within the act of releasing psychic abilities, there were numerous techniques. Even a slight variation in technique could yield unimaginable effects.
These skills required countless repetitions to gradually master. Fortunately, Gao Ming had a natural sense of combat awareness and a strong overall perspective. Through slow practice, he also devised many tactics. However, whether these tactics could withstand the test in actual combat remained to be seen.
In reality, there were readily available materials on the application techniques of psychic abilities. However, Gao Cai's requirement for Gao Ming was to figure it out on his own first before delving into those resources. This approach might lead to unexpected discoveries. The primary focus was for Gao Ming to master the psychic abilities first before learning the application techniques. Unfortunately, Gao Cai didn't anticipate Gao Ming's exceptionally strong psychic comprehension, allowing him to learn several abilities so quickly.
After feeling a bit mentally fatigued, Gao Ming left the training camp and returned to the family residence.
In the following days, Gao Ming's daily routine became quite fixed. Early in the morning, he went to the training camp, reviewing the content of the psychic abilities scroll in the study room. He considered it a constant task since he didn't believe he had fully understood everything. For instance, the arrangement of energy characteristics in the psychic abilities wasn't precisely standardized in his practice. Thus, he spent a considerable amount of time contemplating and adjusting the energy characteristics to approach the standard.
This was the first learning content. Sometimes, when doubts arose, he would seek answers from Gao Cai in the adjacent room.
Next, he went to the training room to practice psychic abilities, searching for application techniques and enhancing psychic strength. This practice consumed most of his time at the training camp.
After returning to the family residence, he took a nap to rejuvenate, followed by spending time with Li Qing.
In the evening, he engaged in a session of foundational body refinement techniques. Each session wasn't lengthy, lasting only about fifteen minutes. However, compared to the first session, the duration had increased significantly, indicating a noticeable enhancement in his psychic strength.
The daily body refinement, scheduled at a fixed time in the evening, was rigidly maintained. It wasn't that Gao Ming didn't want to practice more, but Gao Cai had mentioned that the human body had a limited capacity for accepting elemental energy. Undergoing the refinement of fire energy once a day was already sufficient. Additional practice wouldn't yield much benefit.
As for the Flame Arrow, Gao Ming learned it on the third day of practicing psychic abilities. Second-tier abilities were indeed much more challenging than first-tier ones. Even for Gao Ming, it took half a day to complete the first Flame Arrow.
As a second-tier fire-based attack psychic ability, the Flame Arrow had much greater power than the Fireball. It possessed two major characteristics: penetration and high temperature.
The high-temperature characteristic far exceeded that of the Fireball. It could melt steel directly, and upon hitting a flesh and blood body without any defense, it could vaporize the penetrated area.
Thinking back to the Dark Arrow shot by Gao Xiao that nearly hit him, Gao Ming still shuddered. The Dark Arrow was no weaker than the Flame Arrow, possessing the characteristics of penetration and corrosion.
If Gao Jian hadn't intervened at that time, he would have undoubtedly perished.